MONTREAL - Some very precious cargo is on its way from India to Montreal this week, and it’s not what you might think. It’s a nine-foot scale model of the Big Temple at Thanjavur, the famous monument to Shiva built more than 1,000 years ago on the tip of the subcontinent. The replica is being shipped halfway across the world to be installed in the entrance of Thanjai, a new restaurant that aims to introduce South Indian cooking to a wider clientele. Clearly, this place is thinking big.

Talking to owner Ku-maresan Muthukrishnan, as I did surreptitiously one evening and later by phone, you get the feeling he can’t believe the cuisine isn’t better represented in Montreal. Originally from Tamil Nadu, he’s evidently committed to awakening new appreciation for the area’s distinctive dishes and healthful leanings: it’s generally lighter and more vegetarian-oriented than northern cooking, which has a higher profile here. Those not already familiar with dishes like pongal, idli or rava kaseri can add the words to their vocabulary. Those already in the know can just nod approvingly.

Thanjai is all about outreach. The website is more informative than most, and the menu educates diners on the four states covered by the kitchen, also including Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There’s a bright cheerfulness to the unapologetically orange room that welcomes with booths and round tables, its display case of ingredients that shows dals to black cardamom to sweet Indian fennel and its ambitious banquet hall downstairs that can accommodate 80 people. (“For weddings,” I commented. “Not for Indian weddings,” my friend reminded me. Right, too small for that.)

“You won’t find this anywhere else,” the friendly young waiter said (not the only time that night) as he delivered an order of ven pongal. A fluffy mass made of crushed rice and lentils, it came off like porridge and mashed potatoes together. Innocuous, except that it was electrified with cumin, curry leaves, ginger, the occasional whole green chili, a fistful of peppercorns, cashews and gleeful amount of ghee, the clarified butter used so effectively here. It’s in many ways a typical tiffin-filler, but I mention it first because it was a surprise hit: one of those creamy, soft preparations that make you feel utterly cozy and placated.

Aloo bonda was a great starter. Not to give every dish an English equivalent, but it was not unlike popovers stuffed with potatoes, which impressively still had resistance to the bite. Vada, India’s savoury doughnuts, make for enticingly earthy appetizers. Some were crumbly discs of roughly textured grains, others ring-shaped with a softer doughy consistency; both released latent heat and tingly tastes.

A South Indian staple, idli are soft, snow-white discs formed by steaming a batter of fermented rice and lentil flours. We got them chopped and soaking in rasam, a tamarind-based spice water with a few veggies kicking around in it, for an effect like firmed cream of wheat in mild gravy, quite lovely if a touch sharp. For first timers, I’d suggest trying Thanjai’s loonie-sized mini idlis with sauce on the side.

Dosas are another house specialty, and it would take a month to eat through all the varieties. The plan, which will be brilliant, is to create an open kitchen so customers can watch these large lentil and rice flour crepes cooked to order. They’re served with fillings folded in, along with sambar (thin dal with veggies) and two chutneys (coconut, and a similar but hotter tomato-enhanced one). A potato-stuffed dosa would be good for beginners, and perhaps not the paneer dosa we ordered, which occupied a bitter register due partly to the goaty quality of the homemade cheese and the scattering of mustard seeds. There’s also Thanjai (with cilantro), Hyderabad (with gongura relish) and Hakka (Chinese fusion) styles. There are even kids’ dosas, shaped like a rocket, with cheese and ketchup (the universal anti-yuck serum) or chocolate. Beware those labelled spicy, like the Chettinad-style with red Kashmiri chilies — these go to 11.

The dosafest continues with rarer-still variations, like the must-do rava dosa made with semolina and rice (as regular dosas are commonly made at home, wheat dosas are popular when people go out to eat, the owner told us). They cook more slowly and come out with a lacier pattern and cracklier consistency: the enjoyment is how the edges crinkle in the mouth.

Uthappam, a.k.a. Indian pizza, is a thick pancake with a pockmarked surface. Our chosen toppings — diced peas and carrots, over-optimistically described as fresh garden vegetables — dulled it down; a different garnish would be livelier. Everything was right about a comforting plate of kothu parotta, chopped feathery dough tossed with egg and lively spices. Basically a flatbread stir fry, it was light, homey and heartwarming, and I loved the delicate but intense seasoning.

This was mostly a meat-free meal — and even the one we call the difficult vegetarian was taken with just about everything. A chicken biryani, however, boded well. Served bone-in with hard-cooked egg and aromatic rice, it was darker, deeper and more concentrated in flavour than expected. Chili chicken, I’ll come back for you.

For dessert, rava kaseri took us further into Tamil traditions. A shocking orange to match the walls, this was a luscious, firm, warm semolina pudding with enough ghee to linger on the tongue. Drinks were memorable, too, particularly badam milk, made with almonds, cardamom and a faint whiff of rose water, as if the beverage-maker was wearing it as a perfume. Sweet and hot, the effect was so soothing that it almost put us to sleep, and someone at Thanjai probably would have rustled up some pillows for us if we had.

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